Okay, I know she's grown up with my dad and me reciting meaningless baseball facts all the time, but this isn't something she could pull out of nowhere just for a laugh.

I flip on the news (because the ol' Internets hadn't quite infiltrated the average American household back then) and sure enough, she was telling the truth. Once I had watched the highlights—that video-game curveball starting at Jeff Bagwell's knees, rising up to his chest only to drop back down to his knees—I was hooked.

I wasn't the only one, apparently. After reading this morning that Wood is making his 11th trip to the disabled list before his 10th season starts, I decided to take a look at some of the Tribune headlines in the following days and weeks after Wood made the Killer B's look like mere gnats. Try not to laugh:• Legends in passing: Mr. Jordan, meet Mr. Wood• Imagine, baseball upstaging Michael• Wood, Clemens have a few other things in common• Everything seems to be turning out right for Wood• When Cooperstown calls, will Wood still be a Cub?

That last one is my favorite. I remember Cubs fans everywhere being terrified that Kid K would follow in the footsteps of Greg Maddux and head off to Atlanta. In fact, a Sox fan friend of mine started cracking Braves jokes the very next day.

But of all the headlines in the post-20-strikeout euphoria, one stands out: "Phenom du jour: Before Wood, there was Fidrych, Valenzuela…"

Turns out, Phil Rogers hit the right nerve. Wood has turned out to be little more than a passing fad. His elbow couldn't take the strain of throwing that ridiculous curveball. There's a reason you only see pitches move like that on video games.

Unlike Fidrych, the textbook one-season wonder, Wood did manage to string together three decent seasons after getting Tommy John surgery to repair his elbow. He teased the Cubs, their fans, and local media. In August 2003, the Tribune Sunday Magazine featured a cover story on the resurrection of Wood's career.

But then his shoulder started to fail him. Unlike Valenzeula, who followed up his rookie of the year performance with five more All-Star seasons, Wood left the Cubs waiting for his potential to materialize.

Barring a miracle (and the Cubs have been more or less devoid of those goin' on a century), this season is the eulogy of Kerry Wood's Cubs career. But rather than harp on hot tubs and Tommy John, let's remember watching a supremely talented 20-year-old make Derek Bell look even more foolish than he already did.

Comments

After 2003, a lot of people said that the Cubs would be lucky if one of the trio of Wood, Prior and Zambrano were still pitching given the absurd number of pitches they threw. Well, they were off by two years: after three years, only Zambrano survives.

The Cubs were warned, but they kept saying "Fergie Jenkins managed it!" No, he didn't: by the time Fergie threw his 130th pitch, he was in the 4th inning of the next game.

Now, this is not entirely the Cubs or the pitchers' faults: Fergie was pitching into a much bigger strike zone than Wood, Prior or Zambrano are. However, just because the game has evolved, it does not follow that human elbows and shoulders have evolved to "adapt" to this new environment!

Posted by: Peter | Mar 26, 2007 1:47:25 PM

Two things about Wood and Prior and both relate to the coaching staff. Years ago pitchers never and i mean never lifted weights, you needed to be limber and loose not tight and strong. There were never the type of arm injuries back then that we have now.

With relief pitching being the speciality of the pitching staff why do these coaches such as Rothstien allowing their pitchers to throw 120 pitches in a game. You wonder why there is arm trouble with cub pitchers, stupidity. Last point, how can anyone expect a pitcher to be back in one year following major surgery to their arm, these team doctors are nuts.

Posted by: Ken Kozil | Mar 26, 2007 1:49:41 PM

I will always root for Kerry Wood. He makes every effort to go out there and be competitive.

However, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.

I hope nothing but the best for a guy who fights tooth an nail to get back on his feet.

God Bless K Wood and the Chicago Cubs!!!

Posted by: Matt Howe | Mar 26, 2007 2:23:24 PM

"Throwing too many pitches" is absurd. Today's pitchers are trained to only go five innings anyway, so how can they ever throw "too many pitches"? Decades ago, most pitchers routinely threw more than Wood, completed a majority of games they started, and won a hell of a lot more games than Wood too. See: Walter Johnson for case in point, Three-Finger Brown another, Hippo Vaughn another. Face it, Wood was a one-year wonder, and an injury-prone flash-in-the pan. Every dollar spent on him in the last five years has been wasted, this year's waste being the cherry on top Wood's undeserved financial ice cream cone.

Posted by: clyde | Mar 26, 2007 2:37:27 PM

The Cubs eat up pitchers like Dirty Harry eats up partners. I would equate Wood to Tyne Daley in "The Enforcer". Mark Prior is more like Reni Santoni from the original film. Being a Pitcher for the Cubs is the baseball equivalent of being a "Red Shirt" on "Star Trek". I wonder how Steve Bartman feels today? *head on desk*

Posted by: Florida Bear | Mar 26, 2007 2:50:56 PM

I remember when Wood first came on the scene and the legendary 20-K game. Even though I am not a Cubs fan, I sat up and took notice. I remember Durocher's Cubs as a kid, and I thought that maybe Wood was going to be a big part of the Cubs' return to consistency and credibility. But it didn't hit me that this was his 10th season until I just read it. Not much to show for the time gone by. I give him and Prior credit for still trying, but I just don't really see the point anymore.

Posted by: Rebney | Mar 26, 2007 3:39:57 PM

Kerry Wood has been a great player to have in Chicago simply because of his attitude. I'd take an injured Wood over a healthy Tank Johnson any day of the week. Kerry APOLOGIZED to the city of Chicago after the 2003 collapse. If that isn't a true class act, I guess I don't know what is.

Posted by: Mike | Mar 26, 2007 3:43:38 PM

This all should fall back on Dusty. He was the one who always said they could go 120+ pitches every outing.

Posted by: joe | Mar 26, 2007 4:16:07 PM

The difference between the old days of "iron man" pitchers and now is simple: in the old days when guys hurt their arm, they were out of baseball. They had no other options, other than pitch in pain and re-invent themselves (see Dizzy Dean).

Basically we *think* there are more injuries now because pitchers can get surgery and try to come back instead of just disappearing. It would be interesting to profile pitchers from the old days that only had a couple seasons worth of decent years and then got hurt... there may be quite a few?

Or perhaps they were already filtered out in the minors. How many minor league pitchers have arm surgery these days? Quite a few. In the old days these guys simply never made it to the majors at all, so the guys that did had a higher likelihood of having "tough arms".

Posted by: carlivar | Mar 26, 2007 5:38:51 PM

Keeping a low pitch count is the prevailing theory on long term health, however, that may not last for too long. check this article out from Verducci about matsuzaka and pitch counts in Japan. Perhaps their strike zone is larger among other differences but interesting nonetheless:

I'll never understand the fixation with pitch counts. Sure the strike zone has shrunk, and the mound has been lowered (in 1969), but today's pitchers are unbelievably and unaccountably fragile. How did Nolan Ryan do it? It wasn't that long ago, was it? In the case of Kerry Wood, I think it was a violent across the body motion, as much as anything that led to his demise.

Posted by: Steve | Mar 26, 2007 6:11:34 PM

All this 120-innings whining is useless. See Santana, Buerhle, Vazquez, Zambrano, Halladay, etc. for examples. Everyone said Wood was the next Clemens, yet I see Clemens still dominant and in his 40s. Wood just wasn't built to be on the shelf very long.

Posted by: Steve | Mar 26, 2007 6:22:53 PM

Wood scoffed when Steve Stone said he needed to change (his delivery) or go sell cars... as usual Steve was dead on correct. Stone may have annoyed some but it was nice to hear someone affilliated with the Cubs tell it like it is or was. I hope Woody can get things back together but I really hope the Stone Pony can come back home to Chicago and be the one reliable voice in a organization that as yet, has been very unreliable. Go Cubs.

Posted by: Mike in Denver | Mar 26, 2007 6:25:51 PM

Wow! And here my buddy was actually making a bet that KW would dethrone Ryan on the all time K's list!

Posted by: Manny | Mar 26, 2007 7:30:08 PM

I remember that 1 hit, 20 strikeout game vividly. I was in my sophomore year of college, and had just come back from my Finance final. This was when WGN was offered as a basic cable channel as I went to college on the East Coast.

I was going to go to sleep, but sat down and thought I would at least watch the first couple innings to see if the somehow the Cubs could hold off the regular damage the "Killer B's" would inflict. "Who's Kerry Wood?" was the first thing I thought when the the lineup was displayed.

About 3 hours later, I knew who he was after he mowed down 20 of the 28 batters he faced. The Cubs were off to a horrible start that year, and I still believe that performance was the spark that ignited that great 98' season.

What has become of such a promising career was a certainty before he signed with the Cubs, and it is almost to be expected. The damage in his elbow was already done. In Texas, baseball is a year around sport. Wood was overworked as a pitcher in high school, and his coaches obviously didn't help him with his mechanics. And why should they when they have a 16 year old that throws 95 mph? For example, his coaches would start him in both games of a double header.

My question is this: If Wood works out in the off-season, why does he report to camp looking underweight every year? Roger Clemens hasn't had the injuries that Wood has had, but he's also 45 years old and will pitch again this season. The human body is not designed to throw a baseball, let alone pitch regularly. So to compensate for that he focuses on strengthening every muscle around his elbow and rotator cuff...and it shows. Wood looks as if he grabbed his mitt on his way out the door to the airport.

His performance yesterday was sad. As much as I would love to see him come back and be the Kerry Wood of 2003, it just looks like it isn't going to happen. He's 28 years old, and this season looks as if it will be his last.

Posted by: Chris B. | Mar 26, 2007 7:33:07 PM

The real world has a solution for people who can no longer do their job-they have to look for other work.

Posted by: Don | Mar 26, 2007 7:34:25 PM

Kerry Wood must be a great guy. He has gone through so much for the Cubs. His story doesn't deserve to end like this.

Posted by: Bill | Mar 26, 2007 9:54:16 PM

I'm a lifelong Cub fan.

I'll say a prayer for Kerry Wood tonight. He's a great young man.

What a terrible fate he has suffered. We like to believe that money makes up for this terrible beating Kerry has taken, but it doesn't.

Somehow, some way, I hope the baseball gods will give him another chance.

Posted by: Stephen Thomas | Mar 26, 2007 10:12:11 PM

Cy Young once said, "Too many pitchers, that's all, there are just too many pitchers Ten or twelve on a team. Don't see how any of them get enough work. Four starting pitchers and one relief man ought to be enough. Pitch 'em every three days and you'd find they'd get control and good, strong arms." He's right. If you don't pitch, you can't get any better. Today, the attitude is toward pampering players. I feel if we went back to old fashioned training and playing methods that there would be healthier players. Personally, I would like to see pitchers go the distance again. Cy Young,(the Big Train) Johnson, Satchel Paige, and Sandy Koufax did it, why can't Clemens (who is always being compared to the Big Train), Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux, and other current pitchers do it? For anyone who says that they get tired pitching, take the following quote into consideration.

Charles "Old Hoss" Radbourn who had a 60-12 season once said, "Tired out tossing a little five-ounce baseball for two hours?' Radbourn asked incredulously. 'I used to be a butcher. From 4 in the morning until 8 at night I knocked down steers with a 25-pound sledge. Tired from playing 2-hours a day for 10 times the money I used to get for 16 hours a day?" - Roger Kahn in The Head Game

Posted by: Mike | Mar 26, 2007 11:35:07 PM

perhaps woody should get a hold of clemens personal trainer and a few of sammy's flintstone vitamins, then he might enjoy the longevity that roger the season dodger has....

Posted by: phil m | Mar 27, 2007 8:27:24 AM

Kerry kicked butt in 2003 Playoffs. He made mincemeat of the Braves in Game 1 & Game 5, singlehandedly allowing the Cubs to win their 1st Playoff series since 1945, and advance to face the Marlins. Some of us real fans will remember that which was much bigger than the super-fun 20-strikeout game. I wish journalists and part time fans would stop acting like that's all he ever did. God Bless you Kerry and good luck.

Posted by: George G | Mar 27, 2007 9:33:01 AM

ANYBODY REMEMBER DICK DROTT MOE D. THEY WERE THE PRIOR WOOD TANDEM BACK IN THE 50'S. MOE DID SURVIVE TO PITCH ON BUT DICK JUST DISAPPEARED

Posted by: H D THOMPSON | Mar 27, 2007 11:14:34 AM

Steve Stone hit the nail on the head when he said Kerry Wood needed to change his mechanics in order to have a long major league career. Wood bristled at the suggestion he either change or go sell cars in Texas. Fortunately, for him he got a lucrative contract that allowed him to pursue his same mechanics, without worrying about making deals on new Cadillacs.

One has to give Wood his due in terms of his determination to come back from all the setbacks. No one can question his work ethic or desire to succeed in the 'Show'. However, one can question the sanity in paying him under the premise things will eventually get better and he will return to form, whatever that form truly is.

No more contracts. No more 'hometown' discounts to stay with the Cubs. Kerry Wood doesn't need to sell cars in Texas. He has been compensated for his 'promise', which is now nothing more than unrealized and never to be realized potential.

Posted by: Steve Sarich | Mar 27, 2007 11:30:50 AM

it was a warm summer day in Lawrence, KS. I was still living there after graduating from KU, and worked the night shift at the local radio station. so i had all afternoon all summer to watch my beloved Cubs on cable. and watching Wood throw those 20 K's was one of the great moments in my 37 years. say what you will about the team, about the elbow, about the shoulder, about what might have been. that day will live in my mind forever.

Posted by: Jason | Mar 27, 2007 3:19:22 PM

Wood has been a class act for the Cubs, tragic, but classy.

All this talk of high pitch counts is rubbish. Zambrano throws 110+ routinely and I can't remember the last time he has a non-blister/hang nail related injury.

That's to say nothing of "the old days" (as recently as the 80's) when pitchers were expected to finish games. Hell, people used to throw that way outta 4 man rotations. You arm doesn't get stronger by not throwing.

Arm strength in any position is like a shadow of the past. Look all around the league, most people these days are rag arms. The ones who can throw are pretty wild. The days of Clemente like arm strength and accuracy are GONE.